A SMALL STORY
(His Divine Holiness Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam has delivered almost 20,000 hours of recorded talks till date. As part of the talks, He shares simple small stories that give powerful cognitive shifts to the listener. Following is one such story.)
Children feel that they are adults only when they say 'no' to their parents. It is a basic instinct. When they say 'no' they feel that they are established as an individual. That is why, all over the world, youngsters always rebel. Whether it is in the West or the East, in all the countries all over the world, in all the cultures, the youth say 'no'. When they say 'no', they feel they are strong. But our love is dependent only on 'yes'. As long as we receive 'yes', our love also is 'yes'. When we get a 'no', we also start saying 'no'. This is called horizontal love. It starts and ends horizontally. It starts again and ends again. It always ends with some reason or other.
There is another love called vertical love. It never ends because it never starts. It is always there in the form of energy. It is consciousness. Vertical love is when we suddenly realize that we are living inside everybody just as we live inside our own body!
There is a beautiful example given in the Upanishads*:
A master asked his disciple, 'Do you enjoy all your five senses?'
The disciple said, 'Yes.'
If one of your senses was missing, would you have the same amount of joy?'
The disciple replied, 'No, it would be twenty percent less, and if two of my senses were missing, it would be forty percent less.'
The master Suddenly said, 'What if you had five more senses?'
The disciple answered, 'Naturally my enjoyment would be a hundred percent extra. If I am given one more body, naturally I will enjoy everything twice as much. Or if I am given five bodies, naturally Iwill enjoy things five times as much.'
If you are able to experience yourself as being alive in all the bodies of this world, imagine how much joy or ecstasy you would experience! It would be immeasurable, eternal and ultimate. That is what enlightened people experience all the time. They experience themselves as the whole universe. They experience tremendous ecstasy. That is why they don't need anything from the outer world. They are enough unto themselves. They are established in the highest form of love energy.
In Krishna's life, the whole happening of Ras Leela* is one of causeless love, the Enlightened people experience themselves as the whole universe. Divine love that permeates the entire universe. Ras Leela*is misinterpreted by many people as Krishna* having a physical relationship with the cowherd women. Understand, Krishna* is a superconscious being and Ras Leela* happened when Krishna was around eight years old! It is in no way related to any physical relationship. It was a pure and causeless spiritual happening.
Radha*, Krishna's beloved, was attached to Krishna, but she never really experienced pure joy. She had constant mood swings with possessiveness and jealousy. During Ras Leela, Krishna, as a superconscious being, gave her the experience of seeing him simultaneously with every single cowherd girl present there. He wanted to show her that he is in every physical form, not just in his own form. Such is the manifestation of divine loving beings!
There is another beautiful poem by Jalaluddin Rumi*, the Sufi*mystic. He writes,
One went to the door of the Beloved and
knocked.
A voice asked, 'Who is there?'
He answered, 'It is I.'
The voice said, 'There is no room for Me
and Thee.'
The door was shut.
After a year of solitude and deprivation
he returned and knocked.
A voice from within asked, 'Who is there?'
The man said, 'It is Thee.'
The door was opened for him.
In real love, there is no duality. There is
just oneness with everyone and everything.
That is the ultimate stage of love.
Upanishads - Scriptures that form the essence of the ancient texts of the Vedas. Literally means 'sitting with the master'. There are eleven main Upanishads that have been commented on by enlightened master Adi Shankara.
Krishna - Enlightened master from India who delivered the Truths of the Bhagavad Gita.